While complex log processing equipment is available to the sawmill industry for the automated handling of logs in connection with the fabrication of lumber, the need exists for a portable log processing machine capable of producing firewood at various sites to which the device can be towed in the manner of a typical log splitting trailer for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,242 shows an endless carrier for feeding logs into the path of a reciprocating guillotine type blade which severs the log into sections of firewood length. The firewood then drops into a position where a hydraulic ram can drive the log section endwise against a fixed wedge.
Another prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,171 illustrates an improvement over that prior art disclosure wherein the cutting blade is provided for movement in a horizontal direction against a stop, and wherein a wedge is provided in conjunction with that cutting blade to aid in the severing of firewood length logs from the log itself.
Both of these prior art disclosures are quite complex, and require considerable maintenance to keep them operational in the field.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a readily transportable, low maintenance trailer which not only contains a wood splitter, but which also includes means for advancing the log into a cut-off station for severing a log of any length into sections to be split by a conventional wood splitter of the type adapted to move the log against a fixed wedge. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,112 for a disclosure of a typical trailer mounted wood splitter. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,937 which shows a somewhat more sophisticated wedge arrangement for splitting a single firewood length log section into more than two pieces.
While complex structures are available for performing the tasks for which the present apparatus has been designed, these prior art apparatus have tended to be unduly complex as mentioned previously. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,303 wherein a wood processor is disclosed for cutting a log into a series of shorter lengths, and subsequently splitting the shorter lengths into individual pieces of firewood. This processor of the '303 patent includes a carriage for receiving the log, clamps which engage the log from both sides to secure it in the carriage, and a mechanism for advancing the carriage so that the log is brought into contact with a plurality of parallel rotating saws. After the carriage has been retracted a pusher rod moves the cut log pieces along an axis onto a plurality of cradles which support the individual log sections. These cradles are tilted to dump the sections alternately into opposite sides of the direction of log movement so that they can be fed into a plurality of individual hydraulically operated log splitters.